Waymo deepens commitment to Texas and Florida

To help pay for more robotaxis, Waymo recently raised $16 billion as part of the financial infusion that puts the value of the company at $126 billion. The valuation fueled speculation that Waymo may eventually be spun off from its corporate parent Alphabet, where it began as a secret project within Google in 2009.

Select riders in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando will receive an invitation to take their first local Waymo rides today. This program apparently works as a reverse to most ground transportation systems, in which travellers who need a ride contact service providers to request one.

“We will be inviting new riders on a rolling basis to ensure a seamless experience across our initial service areas, as we meaningfully scale our operations ahead of opening our service to everyone later this year,” the Waymo Team wrote in a blog post on February 23rd.

“Today, we continue our accelerated growth and welcome the first public riders into our fully autonomous ride-hailing service in four new cities: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. In addition to marking the first time we’ve opened to the public in multiple cities simultaneously, this brings our total commercial metro areas to 10, and deepens our commitment in the states of Texas and Florida.”